...there isn't often anything in Wagner opera that one would call by such a violent name as acting.

I pledged myself to smoke but one cigar a day. I kept the cigar waiting until bedtime, then I had a luxurious time with it. But desire persecuted me every day and all day long. I found myself hunting for larger cigars...within the month my cigar had grown to such proportions I could have used it as a crutch.

We Americans worship the almighty dollar! Well, it is a worthier god than Heredity Privilege.

It is not worth while to try to keep history from repeating itself, for man's character will always make the preventing of the repetitions impossible.

Experience of life (not of books) is the only capital usable in such a book as you have attempted; one can make no judicious use of this capital while it is new.

The old man laughed loud and joyously, shook up the details of his anatomy from head to foot, and ended by saying that such a laugh was money in a man's pocket, because it cut down the doctor's bills like everything.

Do something everyday that you don't want to do; this is the golden rule for acquiring the habit of doing your duty without pain.